maurizio caduto I n d o n e s i a

Tana Toraja - The funeral.

2 - How the buffalo sees it.

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Hundreds of buffalos are taken to the market early in the morning . You have the impression that there is a strong relationship between the buffalo and its owner. The man will feed the animal by hand, clean and massage him. And you'll hardly see a man with more then one buffalo. You can sense a strong bonding between them: this is the buffalo he has fed and grown up for long time and now they take him to the market where it will be sold for good money. Now to give you an idea a buffalo averages 5 to 10 million rupias. In highly inflated Indonesian economy this should give you a clear idea of how important a funeral can be in Sulawesi. The most prized gift is a buffalo, male and white spotted like the one below. It's the gift of a very important man.

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They are taken to the funeral - some buffalos adorned with flowers - often amidst a crowd of kids. They will be presented to the family and guests; will stand for a while in the center of the arena beside heads of the three or four buffalos killed early in the morning to start the ceremony. Eventually they will be taken to the backstage - everywhere behind the arena, that is - where unlike their fellow pigs they will not be killed on the spot but will wait for the next day. Few of them will not be sacrificed - who is the lucky one will be decided by the master of ceremony. The survivor will probably never know what he just escaped from but his previous owner will be extremely pissed off for the missing honor of having his buffalo killed.

When the killing starts it's a matter of few minutes and a dozen buffalos are lying dead. To kill a buffalo is an honor that requires expertise, as one single stroke should kill the animal almost immediately. It hardly happens though. The buffalo is tighten up in the center of the arena and forced to lift up his head by pulling a rope secured to his nose ring. The blade will hit his neck on the jugular and the animal will fall on his knees in few seconds dying in his own blood. Unfortunately sometimes the inexperience, the blade not sharp enough and other factors will make this clean killing rather an agony.

The all thing is fast and very violent. You don't want to attend if your heart is less then strong. And it could be dangerous too as sometimes the wounded buffalo will fee himself from the ropes and run desperately around, perhaps just to collapse few meters away. Locals would hide behind fences but I was to eager to take my pictures and found a spot within the arena boundaries. When I took this picture a second buffalo I was not paying attention to manage to escape. I saw him at the very last moment; he was spilling blood like a fountain and just few meters away. That was a supreme flying lesson I learned in no time. He violently collapsed and died where I was sitting just one second before.

When the killing is over men will team up in groups of three or four for each buffalo and one of them will take care of cutting off the skin. It's a delicate job that requires ability and expertise. The others will get rid of the interiors and to move the carcass upside down when it's time. The all process will take one hour at the most. The meat will be distributed according to the status but will not be wasted. As not all the buffalos will be killed, usually a good 30% of the animals will be given alive to families to work in the field.

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-----------The cerimonycc------ ------c-------------ccThe pig's point of view -

Feel sorry for pigs and buffalos? Fine, be a chicken, a dog or a bat for just one day.

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Dogs and bats of North Sulawesicc--------- ----Merry Christmas Mr.Chicken -

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